JPH0778041A - Keyboard housing structure as well as installation device for portable computer with said keyboard housing structure and information processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a keyboard housing mechanism with which cables can be simultaneously housed and portability and appearance can be improved only by performing an operation for housing the main body of a keyboard. CONSTITUTION: This structure is provided with a housing part 3 for keyboard for housing a main body 5 of the keyboard and a housing part 9 for cable for housing a cable 7 for which one end is connected to the main body 5 of the keyboard, the other end of the cable 7 can be moved along housing direction and drawing direction inside the housing part 9 for cable and while being interlocked with the operation for housing the main body 5 of the keyboard in the housing part 3 for keyboard, the other end of the cable 7 is moved in the housing direction inside the housing part 9 for cable. Besides, a connector 33 is moved by moving an interlock arm 31.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a computer keyboard, and more particularly to a structure for accommodating an unused keyboard.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, various personal computers,
A word processor or the like (abbreviated as a computer) has been developed, and in some cases, a pen, a touch panel or the like has been adopted as an input means of the computer instead of a keyboard. These input means such as pens are useful for drawing and selecting icons, but in the current state of the art, when inputting a large number of characters, the convenience is still inferior to that of a keyboard. Therefore, a keyboard may be required. A stationary device (also called an expansion box or a docking station) has been developed in order to expand the functions of the computer. In the case of a conventional computer, since the keyboard is built in the computer body, it is not necessary to equip the stationary device with the keyboard, but in the case of a stationary device for a pen-input computer, the reason is the same as above. Often requires a keyboard. However, in a small device such as a computer or a stationary device, it is considerably difficult to provide a storage space for a keyboard and a cable, and further to store a cable in such a storage space. This difficulty is exacerbated by the need for the cable to have more than a certain length if the user wants to have some freedom as to where to place the keyboard. Further, when a device for winding the cable is provided in order to store the long cable at the same time when the keyboard is stored, there is a drawback that the entire structure becomes large.

In Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-50231, there is disclosed a configuration in which a cable storage portion is provided in a part of the keyboard, but a configuration for storing the keyboard and the cable is not shown. In addition, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 60-174931 shows a structure in which a keyboard is stored in a drawer of a desk.
No special measures have been taken to store the cables.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a keyboard storage structure which can easily store a keyboard cable and which can be easily constructed.

Another object is to allow a cable to be easily housed by a simple structure and to allow the keyboard body to be detached from a computer or the like in order to provide a more versatile environment for use. is there.

[0006]

A keyboard housing structure according to the present invention includes a keyboard housing portion for housing a keyboard body, and a cable housing portion for housing a cable having one end connected to the keyboard body. And the other end of the cable is movable in the cable storage along the storage direction and the withdrawal direction, and the keyboard main body is stored in the keyboard storage in association with the operation of the cable. By configuring the other end to move in the storage section for the cable in the storage direction,
The cable can be stored at the same time by simply performing the operation to store the keyboard body.

Another keyboard storage structure according to the present invention is
A cable side connector is provided at the other end of the cable, and a storage section side connector that is detachably connected to the cable side connector is stored in the cable storage section so as to be movable along the storage direction and the withdrawal direction. The operation for storing the keyboard main body is performed by configuring the cable side connector so that it is latched by the latch means when the storage section side connector is at a predetermined position on the drawer side in the cable storage section. The cable can be stored at the same time, and the cable connector can be easily attached and detached.

Further, a stationary apparatus for a portable computer and an information processing apparatus which are detachably coupled to the portable computer and cooperate with the portable computer according to the present invention,
Since the keyboard housing structure as described above is provided, the cable can be housed at the same time only by performing the operation for housing the keyboard body, or in addition to this, the operation for attaching / detaching the cable side connector can be easily performed. I did it.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the keyboard storage structure according to the present invention is applied to a stationary apparatus for a portable computer. The pen input type portable computer 11 has a flat display panel 13 which has a pen input recognition function and a display unit. The computer 11 is detachably connected to the stationary apparatus 1 for portable computers. The stationary apparatus 1 has a keyboard storage portion 3 for storing the keyboard body 5 and a cable storage portion 9 for storing the cable 7. The stationary apparatus 1 may be provided with an FDD (floppy disk drive), an HDD (fixed disk drive), an expansion bus connector, etc. to expand the function of the portable computer 11. The pen-input portable computer 11 itself does not include a keyboard. Although the computer 11 is small and its function is limited, the function is expanded by connecting to the stationary apparatus 1.

The keyboard body 5 is attached to the keyboard storage portion 3
The state of being drawn from is shown by a chain double-dashed line. When pulled out in this way, since the cable 7 has a certain length, the user can place the keyboard body 5 at a desired position and perform an input operation. The keyboard body 5 has a size that can be stored in the keyboard storage portion 3, but the shape thereof is not limited to that shown in the drawing.

FIG. 2 shows the bottom surface of the stationary apparatus 1. A keyboard storage 3 is provided on the bottom surface of the stationary apparatus 1. The keyboard body 5 housed in the housing portion 3 is exposed on the bottom surface, but both side lines of the keyboard body 5 are slidably held by a supporting structure (not shown) so that the keyboard body 5 does not fall off from the housing portion 3. There is. The cable storage 9 is located adjacent to the keyboard storage 3. A rail 25 is provided in the cable storage portion 9. This rail 25 is a cable storage 9
Is formed so as to have a narrow width along the longitudinal direction of the cable storage portion 9. The rail 25 movably guides the interlocking member 21 in the cable housing 9. As will be described later in detail, the interlocking member 21 moves along the rail 25 in conjunction with the insertion operation and the withdrawal operation of the keyboard body 5. The interlocking member 21 is latched by the latch means 23 when it is pulled out to the end portion in the pull-out direction of the cable storage portion 9. Hereinafter, the configuration of the keyboard storage structure will be described with reference to a sectional view taken along line II-II (FIG. 3) of FIG. 2, a bottom view thereof (FIG. 5), and an enlarged view of the interlocking member 21 (FIG. 4).

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the II-II section of FIG.
The stationary apparatus 1 is provided with a keyboard storage section 3 on its bottom surface side, and a cable storage section 9 is provided on an upper portion of the keyboard storage section 3.
Is equipped with. The stationary apparatus-side cable 32 is fixed to the interlocking member 21 on the storage direction A side. This cable 32
Is for transmitting a signal from the keyboard body 5 to an electronic circuit (not shown) in the stationary apparatus 1. The stationary apparatus-side cable 32 has a sufficient length so that the interlocking member 21 can freely move within the cable housing 9 within a predetermined range. At the end of the interlocking member 21 in the pull-out direction B, a storage unit side connector (not shown) that enables connection with the cable side connector 33 is provided. The cable side connector 33 and the storage section side connector may be of ordinary shapes. A cable-side connector 33 is detachably connected to an end portion of the interlocking member 21 in the pull-out direction B via the housing-side connector. As will be described later, in order to facilitate the attachment / detachment operation of the cable-side connector 33 to / from the interlocking member 21, the interlocking member 21 is attached to the stationary apparatus 1 at a predetermined position in the cable housing 9 near the pulling direction B. Latch, ie fixed temporarily.

The interlocking member 21 is shown enlarged in FIG. In the figure, a rail interlocking portion 34 is provided below the interlocking member 21.
Is provided. The rail interlocking portion 34 is movably fitted in the rail 25, and the interlocking member 21 is movably guided to the rail 25 via the rail interlocking portion 34. An interlocking arm 31 is provided on the rail interlocking portion 34 so as to project downward. In addition, the pull-out direction B of the rail interlocking portion 34
When the interlocking member 21 moves to a predetermined position near the pulling direction B in the cable storage portion 9, the side end portion of the rail 2
It is adapted to abut the end 42 (FIG. 5) of the No. 5 terminal. This is to prevent the interlocking member 21 from further moving in the drawing direction B.

The interlocking arm 31 engages with the keyboard body 5 when the keyboard body 5 is housed in the housing portion 3 and moves the interlocking member 21 in the housing direction A.
The interlocking operation between the keyboard body 5 and the interlocking member 21 will be described in more detail later.

Returning to FIG. 3, when the interlocking member 21 is located at a predetermined position in the cable housing 9 on the side of the drawing direction B,
The interlocking member 21 is latched to the stationary apparatus 1 by the latch means 23. The latch means 23 is swingably attached to the stationary apparatus 1 by a swing shaft 37. At the end of the latch means 23 in the storage direction A, a latch claw 35 is provided so as to project upward. The latch means 23 is biased by a spring (not shown) or the like so that the latch pawl 35 swings in the upward direction. When the interlocking member 21 moves to a predetermined position in the cable storage portion 9 on the side of the drawing direction B, the latch claw 35 comes into contact with the end face of the interlocking member 21 in the storage direction A to move the interlocking member 21 in the storage direction A. Block. Further, the latch claw 3 of the latch means 23
A keyboard receiver 36 is provided at the end opposite to 5. When the keyboard body 5 is stored, it is necessary to move the latch claw 35 downward in order to release the latch with respect to the interlocking member 21 by the latch claw 35. Therefore, the front end of the keyboard body 5 contacts the keyboard receiver 36. Then, the keyboard receiver 36 can be pushed upward. That is, when the keyboard body 5 is horizontally inserted into the keyboard storage portion 3, the front end of the keyboard body 5 contacts the keyboard receiver 36 and the keyboard receiver 3 is inserted.
When 6 is pushed up, the latch claw 35 is pushed down.

FIG. 5 shows a bottom view of the main part of FIG. The latch means 23 is provided in the vicinity of the end portion of the cable storage portion 9 near the pulling direction B. The latch claw 35 is provided at the tip of the swing arm 41. The rail 25 is a narrow and long opening provided on the bottom surface of the cable storage portion 9,
The moving range of the rail interlocking portion 34, that is, the moving range of the interlocking member 21 is defined. When the latch claw 35 latches the end of the interlocking member 21 in the storage direction A, the interlocking member 21 is sandwiched between the terminal end 42 of the rail 25 and the latch pawl 35, and extends along the longitudinal direction of the rail 25. It does not move.

FIG. 6 shows a state in which the cable 7 and the interlocking member 21 are pulled out in the pulling direction B rather than the state shown in FIG. When the keyboard body 5 is pulled out from the keyboard storage portion 3 and then further detached from the stationary apparatus 1,
The cable 7 is also pulled out from the cable storage portion 9. The interlocking member 21 that moves in the pull-out direction B rides on the latch claw 35. Since the interlocking member 21 is restricted from rising by the upper end wall of the cable storage portion 9, the entire latch claw 35 swings in the G direction (counterclockwise). At this time,
Even if the latch claw 35 is pushed down and the keyboard receiver 36 is pushed up, the keyboard receiver 36 will not move.
1 (particularly the rail interlocking portion 34) is not provided at a position that hinders the movement in the pull-out direction B (see FIG. 4).

FIG. 7 shows a state in which the interlocking member 21 is further pulled out. When the end of the interlocking member 21 on the storage direction A side passes over the tip of the latch claw 35, the latch claw 35 is swung in the J direction (clockwise) by the urging force of a spring (not shown), and the latch claw 35 is moved. Comes into contact with the end surface of the interlocking member 21 in the storage direction A, and the movement of the interlocking member 21 in the storage direction A side is blocked. Further, the movement in the pull-out direction B is blocked by the terminal end 42 of the rail 25 as described above. That is, the interlocking member 21 is latched by the stationary apparatus 1 at a predetermined position on the open end side of the cable storage portion 9.

FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of the above-mentioned latched state. When the interlocking member 21 is a rectangular parallelepiped as shown in the figure, the stability of the interlocking member 21 when it moves in the cable housing 9 is increased, and the latching pawl 35 of the latch means 23 can easily latch the interlocking member 21 reliably.

FIG. 9 shows an essential part of the bottom surface of FIG. The latch claws 35 latch the end surface of the interlocking member 21 on the storage direction A side. In the latched state, it is easy to attach / detach the cable side connector 33 to / from the interlocking member 21. However, in the state where the latch claw 35 is not latching the interlocking member 21, when the cable side connector 33 is tried to be attached to or detached from the interlocking member 21, the interlocking member 21 moves, so that the attaching / detaching operation is not easy.

Next, the operation of housing the keyboard body 5 in the keyboard housing 3 will be described. Interlocking member 2 in FIG.
1 shows a state in which the latch means 23 is released. When the keyboard body 5 is to be housed in the keyboard housing portion 3, the upper end surface 5b on the front end side of the keyboard body 5 contacts the keyboard receiver 36 from below and pushes up the keyboard receiver 36. The latch claw 35 located at the other end of the keyboard receiver 36 is pushed down, and the interlocking member 21 is released from the latch claw 35.

In FIG. 11, after the interlocking member 21 is released from the latch claw 35, the keyboard main body 5 is further stored in the storage section 3.
The state of being inserted inside is shown. The tip 5 of the keyboard body 5
The a contacts the interlocking arm 31 and pushes the interlocking arm 31 in the storage direction A. The interlocking member 21 also interlocks with the interlocking arm 31.
It moves in the storage direction A together with 1. Since the end of the cable-side connector 33 of the cable 7 is connected to the interlocking member 21, it is housed in the cable housing 9 as the interlocking member 21 moves.

In FIG. 12, the keyboard main body 5 is stored in the direction A.
Further, the keyboard body 5 is completely inserted into the keyboard storage portion 3 and is shown. Interlocking arm 31
Is located at the end of the storage portion 3 for the keyboard in the storage direction A,
The interlocking member 21 having the interlocking arm 31 is also accommodated in the accommodation direction A end of the cable accommodation part 9. The cable 7 is folded and stored across both the cable storage 9 and the keyboard storage 3. Therefore, the cable 7 having a length about twice the horizontal length of the keyboard storage portion 3 can be stored in the storage portions 9 and 3.

After the keyboard body 5 and the cable 7 are completely stored as shown in FIG.
When it is desired to use, the keyboard body 5 is pulled out from the keyboard storage portion 3. After the keyboard body 5 is pulled out, if the keyboard body 5 is separated from the stationary apparatus 1, the interlocking member 21 is moved by being pulled by the cable 7 (see FIG. 3).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, there is an effect that the cable can be housed with the simple structure in synchronization with the housing operation of the keyboard body.

Further, in particular, in consideration of user convenience, the cable side connector 33 is detachable on the front surface of the stationary apparatus 1. By storing the interlocking member 21 in conjunction with the storage operation of the keyboard body 5,
Cable side connector 3 when the keyboard body 5 is stored
It is made possible to avoid the form in which the protrusion 3 protrudes to the outside of the stationary apparatus 1, and to make the entire stationary apparatus 1 aesthetically pleasing and portable.

The application of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the interlocking member 21 is pushed by the keyboard main body 5 via the interlocking arm 31 to move inside the cable storage portion 9, but the interlocking member 2
When the latched state of the interlocking member 21 of No. 1 is released by the keyboard main body 5, the interlocking member 21 is pulled by a pulling means using a spring or the like even if the interlocking member 21 is not pushed by the keyboard main body 5, so that the inside of the cable housing portion 9 is moved. You may move. Further, the interlocking member may detect the storage operation of the keyboard main body 5 and interlock with it to self-propell in the cable storage portion 9.

In the above-described embodiment, the latch claw 35 latches the end surface of the interlocking member 21 on the storage direction A side, but the latching means may hold the entire interlocking member 21 or the interlocking member 2
You may make it a part of 1 is difficult to insert. Further, the release of the latched state may be performed not by abutting the tip portion of the keyboard body 5 but by another portion other than the tip portion of the keyboard body 5 (for example, a special engaging means is provided). It may be released by operating a release button that is not engaged with the keyboard body 5. Further, the positions of the keyboard storage portion 3, the cable storage portion 9 and the like, the interlocking member 2
Also, the shapes of 1, the latch means, etc., and the configurations of the cables 32, the rails 25, etc. are not limited to those described in the above embodiment.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the keyboard storage structure according to the present invention is provided in the pen input type portable computer stationary apparatus, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment and the present invention is not limited thereto. It is also possible to provide in the main body of the stationary apparatus for a portable computer of the type which inputs by the keyboard according to the above. As another aspect, the keyboard storage structure according to the present invention can be provided in a pen-input type or a portable computer main body of a type for inputting with the keyboard according to the present invention, or can be provided in a non-portable computer main body. .

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to store the cable in conjunction with the storing operation of the keyboard body and to provide the appearance and portability. There is.

Further, there is an effect that the keyboard cable can be easily housed, and a keyboard housing structure which can be easily constructed can be provided.

Further, there is an effect that the cable can be easily accommodated by the simple structure, and the keyboard main body can be detached from the computer or the like in order to provide a more versatile use environment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of a stationary device having a keyboard storage structure according to the present invention.

3 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of an interlocking member 21.

FIG. 5 is a bottom view in the state of FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II when the connecting member of FIG. 3 moves in the drawing direction B. FIG.

7 is a sectional view taken along line II-II in a state in which the connecting member of FIG. 4 is further moved in the drawing direction B and is latched by the latch means.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a bottom view in the state of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line II-II when the latch is released.

FIG. 11 is a II-II cross-sectional view showing a state where the keyboard body 5 is further moved in the storage direction A.

[Figure 12] II-II when the keyboard body is completely stored
FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Portable Computer Stationary Device 3 Keyboard Storage 5 Keyboard Body 7 Cable 9 Cable Storage 11 Pen Input Portable Computer 13 Flat Display Panel 21 Interlocking Member 23 Latch Means 25 Rail 31 Interlocking Arm 32 Cable for Stationary Device 33 Cable connector 34 Rail interlocking part 35 Latch claw 36 Keyboard receiver 37 Swing shaft 41 Swing arm A Storage direction B Drawout direction

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazuhide Yoshihara 1623 Shimotsuruma, Yamato-shi, Kanagawa 14 Yamabe Works, Japan BM Co., Ltd. (72) Shota Horikoshi 1623 Shimotsuruma, Yamato-shi, Kanagawa Address 14 Japan ABM Co., Ltd. Yamato Works (72) Inventor Atsuhisa Naito 1623 Shimotsuruma, Yamato City, Kanagawa Prefecture 14 ABI Japan Co., Ltd. Yamato Works

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A keyboard accommodating portion for accommodating a keyboard body, and a cable accommodating portion for accommodating a cable having one end connected to the keyboard body, the other end of the cable for the cable. It is possible to move in the storage part along the storage direction and the withdrawal direction,
A keyboard housing structure configured such that the other end of the cable moves in the housing direction in the cable housing portion in conjunction with the operation of housing the keyboard body in the keyboard housing portion. 2. A cable side connector is provided at the other end of the cable, and a storage section side connector that is detachably connected to the cable side connector is provided in the cable storage section along the storage direction and the withdrawal direction. 2. The keyboard storage structure according to claim 1, wherein the cable side connector is configured to be latched by a latch means at a predetermined position on the pull-out side in the cable storage section. . 3. A portable computer stationary device that is detachably coupled to a portable computer and cooperates with the portable computer, wherein the keyboard storage structure according to claim 1 or 2 is provided. Stationary equipment for computers. 4. An information processing apparatus comprising the keyboard storage structure according to claim 1.